Leadership and Perception: An Integral Crossroads

Dynamically, leadership is action. And actions are based off the experience, education, mentoring, and life experiences you have as a professional and as a person. So how is it that some leaders don’t have a clue about how they are perceived? Why do two leaders look at a situation and can come up with two totally different courses of action to follow?

A leader shared with me recently about an experience they had when the leader was preparing feedback for workers on the unit. A worker in the unit was particularly hard to work with for many; they seemed to always have a challenge to a solution proposed but never had a correction to help the problem. This worker was mostly negative in work situations and complained regularly about the unit and the organization. Bottom line, no one liked working with this person and it was impacting the unit work and environment.

The leader decided during the feedback to tackle this worker direct to see if they could improve the working conditions. When the leader asked the worker how they thought others around the unit perceived them as part of the team and evaluate their work, the worker stated they would all agree he was a hard worker, a problem solver, and a big part of the team. When asked for how he would evaluate his work on the team, the worker said they were “a huge problem solver, giving the tough answers no one wants to give.”

WOW. The leader was taken back by the lack of awareness of his worker.

The question then came up as to how many of us might be lacking in our own awareness. As my friend and I discussed, the challenge then is how we view the world through our own perceptions of ourselves, of our leadership, and how we view others. Is it possible to be delusional about your own leadership while dolling out opinions and thoughts on others?

At businessdictionary.com, the word perception is defined as “The process by which people translate sensory impressions into a coherent and unified view of the world around them. Though necessarily based on incomplete and unverified (or unreliable) information, perception is equated with reality for most practical purposes and guides human behavior in general.”

We all view things through the “lenses” we have from our upbringing, education, experience, and growth. The biases we use, knowing or unknowing, help us to form our thought as a leader. How we were molded by previous leaders has a huge impact on our development as leaders. More importantly, how we act or lead is by our choice.

The challenge of leaders is to know and accept you have a bias that impacts your perceptions, and to understand the impact of those perceptions. Clearly you need to understand everyone else does as well. Those perceptions guide us sometime to great victories. As with my friend and their worker, sometimes those perceptions can be disastrous.

We know to be successful at leadership you 1) must have a vision, you should have the ability to relate to people, to connect with them; 2) must have clear communication with feedback as a supporting skill set; and 3) decision making ability to execute. I would the knowledge and ability to know how your own perceptions influence your leadership behaviors and actions.

In healthcare today, how you are perceived can make an impacting difference in your effectiveness. How you make decision on your perceptions can impact your leadership. Below are four steps to help you diversify your perceptions and loosen your biases:

1. Be aware of your biases: Everyone has them. You need to know what some of your biases are when making decisions. These biases make us all different, and diversity is required to make strong decisions. The challenge is to ensure those biases are considered when you make tough decisions, especially decisions impacting people. That bias could be creating a toxic work environment and you may not be aware of it if you have not identified how you filter through ideas when coming up with a solution.
2. Talk out loud: When you speak through a decision, out loud, it allows you to critically think through your decision. There is something about the audible word that sounds differently than we hear it when reciting it in our minds. Talking out loud permits you to separate the thought more from your unconscious mind into the real world. It is even more beneficial if you have a trusted leader to listen to help challenge you on decisions.
3. Reconsider: Sometimes your first answer may not be the best. A hallmark of a great leader is the ability to determine when they may have made a wrong decision and then to change it. As you open your leadership thoughts to more diverse backgrounds or information, then you have different perspectives to choose from. Changing your decision can be powerful and shows an earnest to do the right thing. Integrity is a high sought after characteristic in leadership.
4. Challenge yourself: When critically thinking through challenges, take the time to challenge yourself on how you are thinking. Similarly to step 1, take time regularly to look at how you filter information, through what perceptions do you run your leadership dialogue through, and challenge yourself to think differently. Easier if you are reading different books, networking with leaders who think differently than you, and having engaging discussion on topics with those you know think differently than you. This exercise allows you to broaden your scope and makes it easier for you to consider different options from your normal.

Your perceptions as a leader have probably served you well. But that may not be enough in the future. Diversity of thought, challenging your perceptions, and broadening and using your biases to serve you better makes you a better leader. It also improves the relationship with those you work with and encourages mission accomplishment to higher levels. When it comes to the crossroads where your leadership needs an evaluation, take the time to improve how you think and perceive the world you work in!

Leading with you.

Dean

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